New bike news

17 August 2013 - 20:09

Marquez secures pole at Indianapolis

Marc Marquez must be in love with the United States of America by now. He notched up his first-ever MotoGP pole in only his second-ever MotoGP race at the Circuit of the Americas, converted that into a win, qualified second at Laguna Seca right before the summer break and won that race too. Now, he's not just claimed pole position at Indianapolis, he's also broken the track record for the fastest qualifying lap on two wheels...ever.

And not just broken it, he's ripped it to shreds - Marquez clocked a 1:37:95s, which is nearly a full second faster than the previous record set by his very own team-mate, Dani Pedrosa, last year.

From the outset, it was very clear that Marquez would be the one to beat (as has been the case throughout the season thus far), and as hard as a Green Mamba themed helmet-donning Jorge Lorenzo tried, his best lap was still half a second off that of the Repsol Honda rookie's. The world champion hasn't fully recovered from his collarbone injury, and he'd still be wanting that seamless shift gearbox that Yamaha was testing a few days back at Brno on his Factory M1.

Cal Crutchlow, fresh from a summer break that also got him a job at Ducati, could sniff a front-row start, and looked well-set to start the race alongside the two feuding Spaniards, until another cracked-collarbone-yet-to-heal Spaniard, Pedrosa, came along towards the end of Q2 and bettered his time, pushing the Brit further down the table.

Alvaro Bautista qualified fifth ahead of Nicky Hayden, contesting what is possibly his last MotoGP race at his home circuit with Ducati, with Bradley Smith in seventh, and LCR Honda's Stefan Bradl - who endured two crashes today, including one right at the end of the qualifying session - in eighth position. Valentino Rossi had his worst qualifying result of 2013, only being able to post the ninth fastest time on the grid. Dovizioso, Iannone and Edwards rounded off the list of top twelve riders.

The tenth race of the season, and for the second time, we have an all-Spanish top three. So let's do this again - Marquez, Lorenzo or Pedrosa?